Abstract

During the 1980s, the Spruce-Fir Research Program, part of the Congressionally mandated National Atmospheric Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP), investigated the links between acidic deposition and decline and mortality of red spruce forests in the eastern United States. The Spruce-Fir Research Program was highly successful in advancing the state of knowledge on spruce-fir ecosystems, particularly in the northern and southern Appalachians and was one of the few to convincingly document the effects of acidic deposition on spruce ecosystems.